PESHAWAR
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s transgender community on Wednesday strongly rejected the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) decision which declared that individuals cannot alter their gender at their own discretion, saying the community will launch protests against the decision.
Addressing a press conference at Peshawar Press Club (PPC), Farzana Riaz, chairperson of Trans Action Alliance urged the FSC to avert its decision as it would deprive the community from the liberty of access to human rights bestowed to them by the constitution of Pakistan.
Farzana said that the community has the right to appeal before the Appellate Sharia Bench against the decision, adding that “the decision is unfair and completely contrary to the basic value of human rights”.
Arzo, senior member of the alliance maintained that the right to self-diagnosis of gender was given by the higher legislative assemblies of Pakistan and the relevant forum must be taken on board before issuing the judgment.
They said that Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018 section 3 ensured the rights of the transgender persons and gave them complete liberty of gender identification.
“The decision of the FSC has pushed back the struggle for the rights of transgender community which continued for more than 20 years in the country,” they added and said that all organizations working for the rights of the transgender community have launched protests against the decision.
The representatives of the Trans Action Alliance threatened protests against the court decisions across the province if the decision was not averted.
Later on, the community members staged protest demonstrations outside the PPC building and chanted slogans and demanded protection of transgender rights.
